Amphipod-Crustacea: a potential live feed for mud crab culture

Abstract Mud crab (Genus: Scylla) is among the most popular seafood in the world. Cannibalism is a major bottleneck in the development of commercial aquaculture of Scylla paramamossain. Artificial feed is generally less attractive for the crablet stage and believed that more appropriate live feed will be preferred. Two sets of experiments were conducted to evaluate if Amphipod-crustacea may be used as live prey for mud crabs. The first experiment was to test the consumption rate of four days old crablet against amphipods. The experiment was conducted in glass containers with a 1 L capacity at varying density levels of Amphipod. The quantity of Amphipod consumed by a crablet over ten hours was evaluated. The second experiment was to test the ability of different sizes of mud crabs on amphipod prey. The results indicated that the consumption rate increases considerably (P < 0.05) when the density of amphipods rises and peaks at 30.3 ind./crab. However, mud crabs' preying ability on amphipods was significantly reduced as their size increased. At about 24 g body weight, crab juveniles could consume 50% of the provided amphipod during exposure. It may be then inferred that the amphipod is applicable as a live food during the weaning of mud crabs. This is the first study of successful feeding mud crab juveniles on alive amphipods and suggests that amphipods can be developed as the primary feed during weaning. However, research about amphipods' influence on the mud crab's growth rate is still needed.